The Aviator (2004) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error A biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes ' career from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s. Director: From $7.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 25 titles created 17 Mar 2011 a list of 47 titles created 20 Feb 2012 a list of 28 titles created 16 May 2012 a list of 38 titles created 09 Sep 2013 a list of 41 titles created 15 Jun 2014 Search for " The Aviator " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 5 Oscars.

Another 74 wins & 119 nominations. See more awards » Videos In 1863, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father's killer. Director: Martin Scorsese A fisherman, a smuggler, and a syndicate of businessmen match wits over the possession of a priceless diamond. Director: Edward Zwick A writer and wall street trader, Nick, finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his millionaire neighbor, Jay Gatsby. Director: Baz Luhrmann Twenty-something Richard travels to Thailand and finds himself in possession of a strange map. Rumours state that it leads to a solitary beach paradise, a tropical bliss - excited and intrigued, he sets out to find it. Director: Danny Boyle A CIA agent on the ground in Jordan hunts down a powerful terrorist leader while being caught between the unclear intentions of his American supervisors and Jordan Intelligence. Director: Ridley Scott The cruel King Louis XIV of France has a secret twin brother who he keeps imprisoned. Can the twin be substituted for the real king?

Director: Randall Wallace A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children. Director: Sam Mendes Shakespeare's famous play is updated to the hip modern suburb of Verona still retaining its original dialogue. Director: Baz Luhrmann J. Edgar Hoover, powerful head of the F.B.I. for nearly 50 years, looks back on his professional and personal life. Director: Clint Eastwood 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X The story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles , from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s. Director: Taylor Hackford The true story of Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars' worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor.

Director: Steven Spielberg Two documentary filmmakers chronicle their time in Sonagchi, Calcutta and the relationships they developed with children of prostitutes who work the city's notorious red light district. Directors: Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman Stars: Kochi, Avijit Halder, Shanti Das Edit Storyline Biopic of billionaire Howard Hughes , starting with his early filmmaking years as owner of RKO studios but mostly focusing on his role in designing and promoting new aircraft. Hughes was a risk-taker spending several fortunes on designing experimental aircraft and eventually founding TWA as a rival to Pan AM airlines owned by his great rival Juan Trippe. When Trippe's politico Senator Ralph Owen Brewster accuses Hughes of being a war profiteer, it's Hughes who gains the upper hand. Hughes also had many women in his life including a long relationship with actress Katharine Hepburn . From an early age however, Hughes was also germophobic and would have severe bouts of mental illness. Written by garykmcd Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner the passion he couldn't resist.

See more » Genres: Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, sexual content, nudity, language and a crash sequence | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 25 December 2004 (USA) See more » Also Known As: $858,021 (USA) (17 December 2004) Gross: Company Credits Production Co: Did You Know? Trivia In his speech at the Golden Globes, Leonardo DiCaprio revealed that Michael Mann had a hand in writing the film's screenplay. See more » Goofs During lunch with the Hepburns, as Dr. Hepburn asks Hughes if he reads, Hughes handles a fork and a napkin. When Uncle Willy reacts to Hughes's use of the word "snuff", Hughes is leaned over to his right as he looks at Uncle Willy, then, two shots later, Hughes is upright again, and holds the napkin only. See more » Quotes See more » Crazy Credits The Miramax Films logo is also shown in 2-color Technicolor at the beginning of the movie, but before the Warner Bros. Pictures logo.

See more » Connections (Los Angeles) – See all my reviews Scorsese has such an encyclopedic knowledge and understanding of cinema that every shot, however inventive and daring, is effortlessly composed. The direction, editing and cinematography are all the first-rate work by individuals who are clearly masters of their profession and the production design, costumes and makeup are the best you'll see all year. Their efforts combine to create a world of rich and lavish color, of excitement and glamour. Who wouldn't want to visit THIS Cotton Club in 1935? It's hard to imagine who could trump the technical team for Oscars this year. With such a perfectly realized world in which to perform, the actors universally do an outstanding job. Despite the criticism of the hardcore DiCaprio-haters, the unprejudiced will observe an excellent performance that takes genuine risks and convincingly conveys the passing of more than twenty years. Importantly, DiCaprio more than holds his own when paired with Cate Blanchett and especially Alan Alda, who both give equally note worthy performances. Blanchett's interpretation of Katherine Hepburn seems spot on, and anyone familiar with the late actresses mannerisms will appreciate the hard work that clearly went into the recreation.

Alda, one of the most consistently underrated actors around, delivers another masterclass in restrained character building as he oozes ambition and political dishonesty from every pore. And yet, despite the obvious talent of all those involved and Scorsese's ability to effortlessly fill three hours, something about The Aviator fails to completely satisfy. Without wanting to sound like a film student, movies should, ultimately, be ABOUT something; love, honor, courage, redemption, the BIG ideas and themes that are the fuel of the plot. What was the drive of The Aviator? A rich guy recklessly spends lots of money to indulge his personal obsessions and gets away with it. We're never told how his experiences change him, and without change there's no journey. Considering the screenplay was written by John Logan, who usually displays a keen interest in showing the emotional evolution of his characters, the oversight is inexplicable. Ultimately then, much like Gangs of New York, The Aviator is simply the sum of it's parts, and however brilliantly those parts are realized, there doesn't seem to be a bigger theme to underpin and drive them. The Aviator is a perfectly realized recreation of the era and one well worth experiencing.

But the lack of a real emotional journey suggests 'all gloss and no substance', and ultimately prevents the movie from being truly great. 637 of 888 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes The Aviator Movie: Miscast Leonardo DiCaprio in Ponderous Biopic 6 Comments to “'The Aviator' Movie Review: Miscast Leonardo DiCaprio & Cate Blanchett in Heavy-Handed Biopic” Bill B. I mostly agree. I think the movie very phony looking, superficial, way too long and extremely overrated. DiCaprio, not among my favorite actors, is simply totally miscast here & is in over his head, though I think Blanchette is okay in a tough to tackle role. I am among the few that is not among the Scorsese worshipers. Needless to say, he is very talented, but as the years roll by, he seems to admire his own work so much that he can't seem to cut making nearly all of his more recent films overlong to the point that they wear out their welcome well before their actual ending. I long for him to return to his early creativity.

Gustavo The anti-Spielberg bias of this site is seriously affecting the quality of the work in display here. This text is nothing but a provocation full of strawman fallacies - Spielberg has never made a biopic, or any kind of movie, remotely similar to The Aviator in style or even content. Maxim The opening of this review is as unfair as it is misguided (and the use of the word “would” borders on a provocation). Spielberg does not deal in superficiality or needless glitz. His dramatic work delivers on multiple levels, not the least of which is realism and substance. And imaging him taking on a big figure, be it Kane or upcoming Lincoln, carries nothing if not a promise of thoroughness and greatness. The cheap shots are just that and, frankly, any review that feels it needs to grab attention in such a hyperbolic and inflexible way does little to make the review appear worth taking seriously. And that's not going into how it sells the wonderfully unpredictable Barry Levenson short. Ever seen The Diner or Avalon? Nathan Donarum I think Raging Bull is probably Scorsese's best film, at least in terms of his directorial achievement.

It's really a brilliant character study. I need to watch it again as well, but I was blown away the first time I saw it. Nathan Donarum I'm actually surprised that I agree with a lot of the points you make here. I actually enjoyed The Aviator quite a lot. But then again I admit to being biased when it comes to Scorsese, who's admittedly my favorite filmmaker of all time. I also agree with you that DiCaprio is one of the most talented actors today. Which makes it difficult for me to admit that this movie does, in fact, have a number of (if we're being honest) pretty obvious flaws. I especially take your point about understanding Hughes psyche to heart. I think this is perhaps the key flaw of the movie, but a flaw that for me doesn't derail what is otherwise an entertaining film. Scorsese has a tendency to explore characters who are on the outside, who don't completely fit in with their environment, with the people around them. One need look no further than Travis Bickle. Even Henry Hill, who it could be argued was completely a part of his world, makes it clear that he can't be: he's half Irish, and can never be a made man.

Now look at Howard Hughes, who is again of that type. Perhaps it would have been a more compelling and more Scorsesian film if we got a movie about Hughes from a more psychological point of view. But regardless, I think Scorsese weaves a grand story, and personally, I found the 169 minutes more than bearable. I think the point overall is that, as you say, Scorsese was seeing what he could do with a huge budget. Even if it's not a complete success, nor one of his best movies, I still find it to be more entertaining than the majority of junk Hollywood craps out on a weekly basis. Leonardo I watched The Departed at the movies by myself, leaving my husband at home with our two girls. He is a wonderful actor without over exposing himself. I like that very much about him, not to mention he is hot. The DVD Journal | Reviews : The Aviator (2004) The Aviator (2004) Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin, and Alan Alda Screenplay by John Logan Back to Quick Reviews Review by D.K.

Holm I wasn't particularly interested in (Howard) Hughes when I sat down to read a script by John Logan called The Aviator, and I was surprised to discover after two or three pages that it was about him  Martin Scorsese, 2003 Ninety-Five Theses about Martin Scorsese Thesis I: Martin Scorsese Should Never More Be Referred To Again As "Our Greatest Living Director" Each new Martin Scorsese film is greeted with the emotional commitment and fevered anticipation of a religious ceremony. But he has been for so long dubbed our "greatest living director" that we tend to forget when the string of oddly disappointing films that counter that statement began. For some it is Casino; for others Kundun; for even more it is Cape Fear. Each of these films has its defenders, and indeed each has what Truffaut would call its "privileged moments." But if the spectator is looking for the rush, the concentrated energy of a Goodfellas, then yes, for these skeptics the 1990s and the 'Oughts have been a washout for Scorsese fans.

Scorsese admirers labor under the need for their god among directors to keep spilling forth masterpieces. Scorsese himself labors under the need to find engaging material. And in fact, one could argue that most great directors go through a terribly fallow period in their twilight years before issuing great, final, career-defining masterpieces in their dotage. Scorsese is, for many of us, still stuck in that twilight. The "decline" in Scorsese, from edgy crime dramas to finely honed bombastic Hollywood epics, may have occurred when he began drifting to new collaborators, specifically from photographers such as Michael Chapman and Michael Ballhaus to Robert Richardson, or from De Niro to DiCaprio. Isn't it time we drop the suffix "Greatest Living Director" from his name and simply admit that Scorsese is yet just another greatly talented Hollywood director? Isn't it time that a protester nail to the wall the truth for all to see? That Scorsese has devolved from our Greatest Living Director (even John C. Reilly uses this sobriquet in one of The Aviator's DVD supplements) to just a director?

Isn't it time to show that, though the Emperor may not be naked, he is garbed in only the fine linen everyone else wears? Thesis II: Scorsese Would Have Fit Elegantly into the Studio System of Classic Hollywood Martin Scorsese would have been a fit soldier marching to the orders of the old studio chiefs. Probably at Paramount (it had the best writers), but maybe also Warner. Though half of Scorsese's movies are "personal," the other half are what John Ford would have called a "job of work," done to pay the bills or as favors to friends. At the same time, Scorsese has hinted at a desire to do "one of everything": a thriller, a musical, a boxing movie, a western. Part of the attraction of the studio system was that a director like Allan Dwan (a Scorsese favorite) could average three films a year, in many different genres, which offers a great opportunity to hone craft. Scorsese, who now makes one movie every three years, has said in interviews that he thinks that he would have thrived under such conditions, despite the notorious interference from studio heads such as Darryl F. Zanuck.

Could such an individual talent such as Scorsese's survive the relative anonymity of the studio system? If so, he would be the epitome of what Andrew Sarris sought to celebrate in classical Hollywood  directors such as Budd Boetticher and Raoul Walsh, who took studio-assigned material and somehow twisted them to their own ends, leaving their solid, personal stamp on them. That is certainly what Scorsese has done in the post-studio era with non-Scorsese generated projects such as Alice , Raging Bull, and Cape Fear. Thesis III: At Root, The Aviator Is Just Another Biopic That being said, isn't The Aviator (2004) a premier example of Scorsese doing studio hackwork? Allan Dwan-level merchandise at Cecil B. DeMille prices? Isn't The Aviator just another biopic of the brand Hollywood has been issuing with numbing regularity for the past five years? Isn't John Logan's script irritatingly formulaic of recent conventions of screen biography? Let's look at the evidence.

After the title (in shield form like a studio logo) comes up, the film, in biopic fashion, starts off with a psychology-explaining prologue which shows the young nine-year-old Howard Robard Hughes, Jr., being bathed rather sensuously by his mother, who simultaneously coaches him in the concept of quarantine (his home state of Texas was rife with germ-based diseases in those days). This is in 1914 (the rest of the film covers Hughes's life from 1927 to 1947). The script shock-cuts to 12 years later with Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), now the heir to the profitable Hughes Manufacturing Company (which makes drill bits for the oil industry), in the middle of shooting the battle scene for Hell's Angels. In one of those typical biopic scenes, everything happens at once: Hughes is introduced as a dynamic, bull-headed young man trying to score two more cameras to fully capture his vision, and he hires Noah Dietrich (John C. Reilly) as his CEO (and who in real life went on to write a memoir of working with Hughes).

Next, Hughes is shown as an outsider in Hollywood, at the Coconut Grove, dressed inappropriately and laughed at by Louis B. Mayer, from whom he tries to borrow some cameras, but still able to sway a cigarette girl to go to bed with him, to the jealous amazement of his ineffectual publicity man. Next Hughes essentially redesigns an airplane (creating a mono-winged speed plane) and solves a major problem with aviation photography (the lack of a motionless background element masks the speed with which the planes in Hell's Angels are really moving). But just as he finishes shooting his epic, sound comes in (the film suggests that Hughes re-shot all of Hell's Angels, but in fact he re-shot only the dialogue sequences, taking the opportunity to rethink the plot, which was itself "borrowed" from Wings, and replaced Greta Nissen with Jean Harlow). Hell's Angels opens, and Scorsese's The Aviator, in its shorthand, suggests that the $3.8 million epic earned back all its investment, which entailed Hughes mortgaging his business. In the film's next phase, for unexplained reasons Hughes woos Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett).

Meanwhile, he also buys TWA and tests the H-1 jet plane. Like almost every other aircraft he pilots, Hughes crashes the prototype, but the worst landing comes with the deflating collapse of his mature relationship with Hepburn, whose snooty family and its screwball living arrangements offend and baffle the plainspoken entrepreneur (Hepburn's family is still close to her ex-husband). The romance ends, but Hughes has other projects to oversee: a massive wartime transport plane called the Hercules (made of wood), the titillating western The Outlaw, and buying a fleet of cross-country airliners. After a dalliance with Faith Domergue and the beginning of a "street fight" with Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin) of Pan American Airlines, whose proxy, senator Ralph Owen Brewster (Alan Alda) does most of the swinging, and after quietly saving Hepburn and the married Spencer Tracy from a press scandal, Hughes teams up with Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale). As Hughes's obsessive-compulsive disorder increases, he reaches a crisis point when he crashes his experimental plane, the XF-11, into Beverly Hills in a near-fatal accident.

Surviving that, but losing Ava thanks to her free-spirited ways and his paranoid spying, Hughes is finally pushed over the brink when his files are subpoenaed and he is called before Brewster's Senate committee to answer charges of war profiteering. He descends into madness, living in a screening room for weeks at a time and eluding the exhortations of Hepburn and a threatening Trippe. But finally he does emerge, and with a little cosmetic aid from Gardner, faces and beats Brewster (and by extension Trippe) on the public stage. His final triumph is to fly the Hercules, now nicknamed the "Spruce Goose" by the press, some 70 feet over the Long Beach Harbor. But his success is short lived. Once he has landed, Dietrich and others note that Hughes once again teeters on the edge of madness. This is pretty biopicky. The Aviator is all sweep and summary and dramatic "meaningful" highlight moments and short scenes. But it's not bad. It's certainly not as execrable as the TV movie version of Hughes's life with Tommy Lee Jones.

Scorsese and Logan at least allow the viewer to feel that Hughes is accessible; Jones's Hughes was all exterior and indication and summary; DiCaprio, in a marvelous actorial turn, makes Hughes's illness tangible, meaningful, moving. DiCaprio also ages 20 years convincingly and yet keeps the "center" of Hughes consistent. Thesis IV. Scorsese Should Never More Make a Film on a Topic or Subject with Which He Is Not Passionately Smitten It's cruel to characterize Martin Scorsese's recent output as Oscar-whoring epics, and realistically even he must know that he richly deserves an Oscar. Surely, The Aviator was the film that should have won Scorsese his long-coveted statuette. This film has just what Oscar likes: It's a biopic, it has glamour, it focuses on a disabled person, it's rife with British actresses, and so forth. One comforts oneself with the fact that Scorsese is in the able company of Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, King Vidor, and Robert Altman (directors also snubbed by the Academy), but really, shouldn't making a string of masterpieces be enough for anybody?

Might The Aviator have been "better" if it were The Filmmaker, i.e., if it had focused on Hughes's Hollywood career  the films, the starlets, the studio juggling, the red-baiting, the scandal mags  perhaps from a script by James Ellroy? The aviation stuff makes for great special-effects scenes (the two crashes in the film are worthy of Flight of the Phoenix, Alive, and Cliffhanger), but put all that on the back burner and let us revel in the lives of the stars. After all, this is the first Scorsese movie by this great movie-lover that is set even tangentially in the world of moviemaking. He could have gone wild. Thesis V: Wait, Martin Scorsese Is Our Greatest Living Director  But He Needs Great Collaborators Sure, there may be a passionless core to The Aviator, but a "bad" Scorsese movie is better than a "great" movie from, say, Joel Schumacher (our homegrown Franco Zeffirelli).

The Aviator is clear, concise, makes sense, has bravura sequences, is excellently acted by a good cast that works well together, and takes 20 years of a man's life and of American history and summarizes it accurately. The closet cinematic resemblance The Aviator has in Scorsese's career is to Raging Bull. Both tell the lives of highly public men. Both elaborately recreate lush eras. And both were projects initiated by their lead actors. As reaffirmed on the recent Raging Bull DVD, Scorsese needed some persuading to take on a project whose passionate advocate was Robert De Niro (it wasn't until Scorsese saw it as a tale of two brothers that he got interested). Once involved in a project, Scorsese is intrigued by the technical challenges (the boxing matches in Raging Bull), and here we feel that Scorsese is really enjoying the recreation of the Coconut Grove over three different decades, an invocation of the nightclub that figures at the beginning and the end of New York, New York. But Howard Hughes really is a fascinating, if also irritating and scary, figure. The man's influence on society, art, commerce, and aviation is much more expansive that most people assume.

As a rebel against censorship, he predated Otto Preminger. The satellites that send us television have their technological roots in Hughes's work. The only question is, was Hughes a human being? Did Hughes ever laugh? Tell a joke? Was he approachable? Or was he insane from day one? When did the taciturn Gary Cooperish flyboy-playboy become such a reclusive person? Or was he always thus? Tommy Lee Jones's portrayal of Hughes is even colder and more distanced, and one of the triumphs of DiCaprio's turn is that he makes Hughes understandable without necessarily being likable. In fact, there is much more to Hughes than found here, i.e., the subsequent years 1948 to 1976, in which Hughes buys RKO, gets involved in the Red Scare, marries Jean Peters, moves to Las Vegas, has ties to the Mob and to Watergate, is the object of a hoax, then dies, appropriately, in flight, leaving a contested will.

The Aviator leaves out (probably because biographers Donald Barlett and James Steel do so in their book Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness on which the movie is essentially based) any reference to Hughes's alleged bisexuality. Biographer Charles Higham (who claims the movie is based on his book, Howard Hughes: The Secret Life) assigns several male lovers to Hughes from Randolph Scott, Cary Grant, and Tyrone Power to Richard Cromwell and Russell Gleason, and even has him trolling the dungeons of Los Angeles's gay S&M underground. One recent exposé even drags Hughes into the Black Dahlia murder. Thesis VI: Since He Really Is Our Greatest Living Director, The Supplements on the DVDs of Our Greatest Living Director's Films Should Be as Great as the Film Itself Good audio commentary tracks always address that one big thing we want to know  cruxes in the interpretation of the film or mysteries about its creation. With The Aviator, the crux would be why Scorsese wanted to make the film in the first place. Well, the director doesn't really address that, but he does sound quietly enthusiastic about the project in general. However, the packaging is misleading.

The audio track is one of those Criterion-style edited commentaries to which Scorsese is prone, and he is accompanied by the editor and Aviator Oscar-winner Thelma Schoonmaker and producer Michael Mann, who was initially slated as director back when DiCaprio was first trying to get the film made. Nonetheless, the director has the floor the most. Scorsese is not unenthusiastic about Hughes. In one of the best stories on the track, Scorsese tells of showing a 16mm print of the film to other Movie-Brat-New-Hollywood directors such as Spielberg, De Palma, and Milius. During reel changes they talked about the film excitedly, and after the screening, Scorsese says, Milius got up and made a speech about how "this is the kind of movie we should be making." In just a few short sentences, Scorsese evokes a whole world of intensely competitive filmmakers still able to love cinema (maybe he should make a movie about that some day), basically the parts left out of Peter Biskind's book on '70s cinema.

(The anecdote occurs around time code 25:18.) It's clear that Scorsese is more interested in Hughes the filmmaker rather than Hughes the aviator; and not even that much more. Scorsese doesn't care much for The Outlaw. Scorsese also notes that though there had been discussions about incorporating images or citations to the post-1960 reclusive Vegas hotelier Hughes, he decided against that for a few reasons, one being that The Aviator already alludes to that phase of Hughes's life in the central screening room sequence, and second that Scorsese found that his later life lacked a certain drama. So don't expect a sequel 20 years from now with an older Leo playing an older Hughes (unless it's directed by Soderbergh). There will be no The Hermit. Also, by the way, part of the commentary track is cannibalized from the OCD panel featurette, discussed below. Meanwhile the rest of the supplements prove to be for the most part pretty good: Deleted Scene: "Howard Tells Ava About his Car Accident" (1:39). There is no solid reason why this scene should have been cut from the finished film.

For one thing, it doesn't burden an already long movie that much, and it shows a darker side to Hughes that advertises his ruthlessness. What's even more irritating is what is missing from this disc, which is more deleted footage of Hughes in the world of aviation, and which featured Chase Hoyt as Ben Lyon (the principal stunt flyer on the set of Hell's Angels) and the tall and willowy Jane Lynch as Amelia Earhart. Also, Higham, in the new introduction to his bio, says that in the script he read there was a scene in which the young Hughes loses his virginity. He also mentions a Queen Mary scene that reveals the weight of Hughes's deafness, exacerbated by various plane and car crashes, that doesn't appear to have made it into the finished film. "A Life Without Limits: The Making of The Aviator" (11:33) is a somewhat better than average "making-of" featurette, and it covers most of the promotional bases. "The Role of Howard Hughes in Aviation History" (14:39) provides a good reminder of Hughes's still-vital influence on aviation.

"Modern Marvels: Howard Hughes, A History Channel Documentary" (43:34) is a longer reiteration of the points made in the previous supplement, but nevertheless is highly informative, if whitewashed. "The Affliction of Howard Hughes: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" (14:06) focuses on what we now take to be Hughes's disability. It features interviews with actual OCD sufferers and with Jeffrey M. Schwartz, associate research professor of psychiatry at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, and the author of a book that proposes a specific theory about managing OCD. He was an advisor to DiCaprio on the set, but frankly, this segment has the earmarks of a commercial for Dr. Schwartz's technique, however successful. One also wearies a bit of the "theraputization" of modern biopics which seek to explain their subjects through their illnesses. (Pollack is another recent example of this approach.) "OCD Panel Discussion with Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, and Howard Hughes's Widow Terry Moore" (14:52). Unmentioned in the title is the presence again of Jeffrey M.

Schwartz, associate research professor of psychiatry, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, and of the introducer, one Peter Whybrow, M.D., director of the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. Things get off to a bad start on this supplement because Dr. Whybrow has a bad mike, but everyone else after that sounds better. Unacknowledged in this segment, obviously, is the fact that Moore's only claim to being married to Hughes is her own; no legal record exists of their union. "An Evening With Leonardo DiCaprio and Alan Alda" (28:05) is a presentation of something called Miramax Television (which presumably is on its last legs), hosted by David Schwartz, in which the two actors speak in a theater post-screening about their actorial choices. It's not Inside the Actor's Studio, but the duo is relaxed and open about their processes, and Alda has a funny story about a Method technique he thought DiCaprio was playing on him. "The Visual Effects of The Aviator" (12:01) is a video interview with Robert Legato, who walks the viewer through most of the big effects scenes.

It's gratifying to learn that in some cases they used miniatures rather then going the CGI route. "Constructing The Aviator: The Work of Dante Ferretti" (5:58) is a brief profile of the designer, who looks like Danny DeVito, and his work. "Costuming The Aviator: The Work of Sandy Powell" (3:35) is brief but makes the interesting point that in the modern age the costume designer clads not only the stars but the entire extras cast as well. "The Age of Glamour: The Hair and Makeup of The Aviator" (8:08) is a companion piece to the previous supplement, in which Morag Ross and Kathryn Blondell discuss the choices they made for the stars and the burden of doing so many extras. By the way, we see more of pop star Gwen Stefani here then we do in the movie, wherein she plays Jean Harlow. "Scoring The Aviator: The Work of Howard Shore" (7:13) is a by-the-numbers featurette with numerous behind-the-scenes shots.

One of the most enjoyable supplements, "The Wainwright Family: Loudon, Rufus, and Martha" (5:07), features the former comic folk artist talking about his participation with his two children in the movie. Scorsese assigned each of them a decade, with Loudon doing the 1930s. He is a very charismatic, funny orator, and one wishes that there were more than five minutes of him. "The Aviator Soundtrack Spot" (00:18) is exactly what it sounds like, an ad for the CD. Finally there is a stills gallery featuring some 177 pix (presented on the disc in three groups or chapters of 77, 76, 24, assigned by format, i.e., stills, production pix, and portraits). The images do not take up the full screen and are placed against a distracting background graphic. Warner Home Video offers a beautiful anamorphic transfer (2.35:1) with excellent Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.

(Oh, and PS: The other 89 Theses will come with reviews of Scorsese's future films.) Color, with some black-and-white footage Two single-sided, dual-layered disc The Aviator (2004) starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda, Ian Holm, Danny Huston, Gwen Stefani, Jude Law directed by Martin Scorsese - movie review on The Movie Scene Scorsese's Hughes Biopic is no Spruce Goose I don't want them bribed, Jack. I want it done legally. I want them bought - Howard Hughes Mention the name Howard Hughes and I would bet most people will say he was an eccentric millionaire who ended up a recluse. And to some degree that is true and is certainly how his life ended, but Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator" is a movie more interested with Hughes's life before his inner demons started to dominate him.

As such "The Aviator" is about Howard Hughes's love of women, making movies and fascination with aviation all of which are covered admirably in this epic biopic which brings to life the glamour and obsession of Hughes's millionaire lifestyle. Having inherited both his father's fortune and his drill bit business, Howard Hughes ( Leonardo DiCaprio - Catch Me If You Can ) burst onto the scene at just the age of 25 when he produced "Hell's Angels" the most expensive movie of the era and which took 3 years to make thanks to various difficulties and re-shoots. Renowned for his eccentricities as well of his interest in the fairer sex, Hughes went on to become one of the most influential men in early aviation history building bigger and better planes whilst setting records, nearly killing himself indulging his passion for flying. In many ways "The Aviator" feels like Scorsese's eulogy to the golden era of Hollywood, recreating the decadence and excess of the period and in doing so making for a captivating 170 minutes of visual pleasure.

The attention to detail when recreating the golden era is magnificent, with scene after scene filled with opulent sets and realistic costumes; each perfectly recreated to add legitimacy to the story. The attention to detail extends to all aspects of the movie including numerous camera techniques as well as the vintage style soundtrack. For example quite often greens have a slight bluish hue to them such as the golf course and it's intentionally so as Scorsese recreates the look of movies from that era which often had this saturated effect. It is also the fact that often Scorsese opts for showing old news reel style footage, some of which are original and edited to feature DiCaprio or wholly recreated for the movie. Everything about "The Aviator" has the golden era feel and magic about it making it completely enchanting from beginning to end as even when it feels like nothing is going on you are mesmerised by the sets and everything else which is happening in the background. One of the real pleasures of "The Aviator" is that it doesn't feel like a traditional biopic and thanks to Hughes's larger than life persona and his eventful life it often feels like you are watching a fictional drama rather than a re-enactment.

When you see Hughes crash a plane not once but twice, one of which that nearly kills him, it feels like the perfect elements for a well shot fictional drama but these things did happen along with the fact that for all his life Hughes suffered with a type of OCD which lead to what appear to be nervous breakdowns and his reclusive tendencies. Without a doubt "The Aviator" is one of the most interesting biopics thanks to all the events in Hughes's life but like others it also sparks an interest which makes you want to know more about the man. As for the performances well Leonardo DiCaprio stands out as the young Howard. In a performance which in my opinion cements DiCaprio's claims for being one of the best actors from his generation as he creates a character so believable both in his frailties but also in a man who obsessed on doing things his way that you literally can't take your eyes of him much in the same manner as the likes of Marlon Brando in his heyday.

What often can make or break a biopic for me is whether or not the lead actor is convincing or not, well in this case DiCaprio is more than convincing and is so good that it doesn't feel like you are watching him act rather than watching him become. From the big scenes to the miniscule moments of despair DiCaprio is first class and ignores any opportunity to over cook his performance. Opposite DiCaprio for much of the movie is Cate Blanchett who has the unenviable task of recreating the character of Katharine Hepburn, a woman who some would say was nearly as eccentric as Hughes himself. Blanchett I have to say has not always been one of my favourite actresses but here she could change anyone's mind. Her performance rivals that of DiCaprio's for authenticity and brings everything from the New England accent through to her incessant taking to life in a wonderfully large performance, but not to the extent it feels like a caricature. The pairing of DiCaprio and Blanchett is so convincing that if the movie had just focussed on their insular relationship it would have been just as fascinating. Away from the main roles "The Aviator" is full of brilliant supporting performances with the likes of John C.

Reilly, Kate Beckinsale, Alan Alda, Alec Baldwin and even Gwen Stefani all making the movie's recreation of the era feel credible. Out of these Reilly stands out as Hughes's right hand man who although is often put upon by his eccentric boss is loyal through to the end. My only criticism of a supporting performance is that from Jude Law who is the only star who I say over performs in his small role as Errol Flynn. But it's a small criticism of an otherwise set of brilliant performances from both the lead and supporting stars. As is normal with most Scorsese master pieces the musical score is pivotal to how the movie plays and Howard Shore's lively score fits perfectly with not only recreating the era but also in telling the story. With many recognizable pieces from the likes of Glenn Miller, George Gershwin as well as Artie Shaw it is certainly a wonderful trip down memory lane. But away from the more noticeable pieces there is a collection of wonderful orchestral movements which swoop and fly along with the action making it feel both exhilarating and emotional in the right places.

Like many of Scorsese's movies such as " Gangs of New York ", "The Aviator" is a long movie, and at just short of 3 hours you would expect it to be a little bum numbing but it's not for one second. Scorsese is a master of pacing, keeping everything moving at a perfect rate with the occasional lull for you to take everything in. It certainly doesn't feel overly long or dragged out but packed from start to finish and with the subject matter of Howard Hughes who himself lived some what may say an eventful and eccentric life it would be hard to fall short of scenes to include. What this all boils down to it that "The Aviator" is undeniably one of the most entertaining and authentic feeling biopics I have watched in a few years. It manages to take the life of someone who although I had heard of knew little about but delivered a beautifully crafted movie which was so entertaining that time just passed unnoticed as I became immersed in the most wonderful story of the eccentric Howard Hughes, one which is both exciting, interesting as well as slightly touching. On top of this it features some top notch performances from a very impressive cast of A-listers.

If you like biopics or movies which recreate that golden era of Hollywood excess then "The Aviator" will be right up your street. Latest Movie Reviews The Aviator (2004) - Film on Freeview @ viewfilm.net Our listings are provided by our friends over at nextfilm.co.uk . The Aviator (2004) 21:00-00:25 Wed 20th Aug 2014 160m Movie Mix Synopsis Martin Scorsese's biopic focusing on the early years of movie producer Howard Hughes. A passion for flying dominated his life, as he embarked on increasingly ambitious aviation projects - earning powerful enemies along the way. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Beckinsale, John C Reilly, Ian Holm, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law and Cate Blanchett, who scooped an Academy Award for her performance as screen legend Katharine Hepburn. Our Users Recommend The Aviator | Film from RadioTimes Our Score by Brian Pendreigh If The Aviator lacks the punch of Martin Scorsese's earlier biopic Raging Bull, it's perhaps because Howard Hughes presents him with too much raw material.

A millionaire at 18 (he inherited the Hughes Tool Company from his father), Hughes went on to become an aircraft designer and movie mogul, set air-speed records, date Hollywood's top stars and create Jane Russell's push-up bra in The Outlaw. Hughes's childhood is dismissed in a brief prologue that sets up his obsession with cleanliness, then it's straight on to the beginning of his Hollywood career. The film may not always be sure if its protagonist should be regarded as hero or villain, but Leonardo DiCaprio brings an impressive intensity to the role of Hughes that makes this superbly crafted biopic an utterly compelling experience - it thoroughly deserved winning four Oscars in the technical categories. Cate Blanchett is a treat as a rather Emma Thompson-like Katharine Hepburn (and won an Academy Award for her performance), but Kate Beckinsale pales in comparison as Ava Gardner. Summary Martin Scorsese's biopic focusing on the early years of movie producer Howard Hughes. A passion for flying dominated his life, as he embarked on increasingly ambitious aviation projects - earning powerful enemies along the way.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Beckinsale, John C Reilly, Ian Holm, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law and Cate Blanchett, who scooped an Academy Award for her performance as screen legend Katharine Hepburn. Cast & Crew The Aviator | Buy, Rent or Watch on FandangoNOW The Aviator | Buy, Rent or Watch on FandangoNOW An epic biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career, from the late 1920's to the mid-1940's. Rated PG13 For thematic elements, sexual content, nudity, language and a crash sequence. Watchlist © 2004 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Miramax Film Corp. All Rights Reserved. An epic biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career, from the late 1920's to the mid-1940's. Rated PG13 For thematic elements, sexual content, nudity, language and a crash sequence.

The Aviator (2004) The Aviator (2004) Reviews The Aviator Synopsis "The Aviator" tells the story of aviation pioneer Howard Hughes (DiCaprio), the eccentric billionaire industrialist and Hollywood film mogul famous for romancing some of the world's most beautiful women. The drama recounts the years of his life from the late 1920s through the 1940s, an epoch when Hughes was directing movies and test flying innovative aircraft he designed and created. It also chronicles Hughes' struggle with his physical disabilities and phobias, and his increasingly erratic, obsessive-compulsive behavior that led him ultimately to isolate himself from his associates and withdraw from the world. Latest 'The Aviator' News

Question: The 2004 film 'The Aviator' starring Leonardo DiCaprio is a biopic of whom?
Answer: HOWARD HUGHES